1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a power converter and, more specifically, to a power converter controller IC (integrated circuit) that has one or more IC pins with multiple functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent explosive growth in the number of electronic devices, the demand for power converters used as adapters or chargers for these electronic devices has also grown at a rapid rate. Power converters are typically controlled by power converter controller ICs. In particular, switched mode power converters are typically controlled by power converter controller ICs that control the on-times (TON) or off-times (TOFF) of the switch in the power converters to regulate the output voltage and power of the power converters.
The power converter industry is under significant pressure to manufacture power converter controller ICs that are highly efficient but can also be manufactured at low cost. Because the manufacturing cost of ICs is highly dependent upon the die size, the number of pins, the packaging, and testing of the IC, it is desirable to reduce the number of pins of an IC. However, it is difficult to reduce the number of pins in conventional power converter controller ICs. In conventional power converter controller ICs, each pin of the IC is associated with a single, separate parameter or function and thus the IC requires as many pins as the number of parameters or functions supported by the IC. Thus, in general, reducing the number of pins in the power converter controller IC also reduces the number of parameters or functions supported by the controller IC and sacrifices the performance of the power converter.